Saturday, March 5, 2011

Vancouver again!

Olympic Cauldron

Whoops, has it really been two weeks since I posted? Well, I guess I was away for a week, and work has been a bit nuts since then. Actually, I'm supposed to leave tomorrow for a work trip, so I guess things will continue to be hectic for a bit. I think I can muster up enough time to write a quick post though! It was surprisingly sunny during my last trip (nice contrast to my previous trip where it rained every day) although also freaking cold! But we had a nice walk the day I arrived, through Coal Harbor and eventually to Stanley Park. That's the Olympic Cauldron above (it was the one year anniversary of the Vancouver Olympics just before I arrived).

DSC_1400

If I lived here, I'd get a boat too.

DSC_1404

In Stanley Park, we saw lots of crows, but no raccoons this time. Oh, also a Douglas Fir squirrel, which we initially thought was either a baby squirrel or a chipmunk (fortunately, a knowledgeable passerby corrected us).

DSC_1409

We stumbled across Beaver Lake, which according to the display, is slowly disappearing. I haven't been to this part of the park before, but it was beautiful. And, as you can tell, extremely sunny.

DSC_1413

But then the sun started to set, and a duck flew into my shot. Can you see it? He was VERY FAST.

caesar-bomb

We ate a lot of excellent food, but I took very few pictures. However, here is my Caesar (what they call a bloody mary) from our anniversary lunch at Provence (and Py in the background). Yum! We visited our old favorite Plus Alpha and also had an indulgent afternoon tea at the Fairmont Hotel.

Choux Swan

The lighting in there is terrible, and it only just occurred to me that I could probably have used the flashlight on my phone for some additional lighting, but then I would have REALLY looked like a weirdo. Oh well! Anyway, it was yummy, and I really liked the space, although of course, it can't touch the tea at the Peninsula in Hong Kong.

Currywurst from Eli's Serious Sausages

I got to try a currywurst from Eli's Serious Sausage, which was delicious! A few days later, we saw Eli being interviewed on the news on a segment on coping with the cold snap--his strategy? "A sweater...and then another sweater....and then another sweater...and another sweater..."

Banana bread

And I made some banana bread that was pretty good considering I totally winged it!

Strike

In a first for me, I tried 5 pin bowling, and I think I'm slightly better at that than regular bowling. Also, I've never been to a bowling alley where you're not allowed to drink beer on the lane--you have to keep your beer on a ledge behind the lane!

DSC_1427

Lanterns at the Sun Yat Sen garden. I should've paid and gone into the classical Chinese garden on the other side too, but I was cold and lazy.

Welcome home

And too soon, it was time to go home--this is the terrifying thing that greeted me in the fridge. Yes, it's a carrot. I've never seen a carrot dry out to this degree before in a refrigerator!v

7 comments:

Laura said...

Wow, what a great experience! Those are some fantastic pictures, too. What kind of camera do you have?

(P.S, I thought that last picture was a vanilla bean, until I read the caption...yuck!)

Megg said...

Looks like another fantastic trip! I really need to go to Vancouver someday!

Also, you have taken the best damn photo I've ever seen of a disgusting carrot.. hahaha..

square kitchen said...

oh yeah, vancouver starts to be springlike... i hope you really enjoyed your trip. actually i love to go to work with daylight and return home with daylight as well. your pictures are beautiful. r u back in ny again now?

tofugirl said...

@Laura, I use a Nikon D60 (it's one of their entry level dSLRs) with a 60mm lens :) I love going to Vancouver! And yeah, that carrot got pretty gross, huh?

@Megg, you definitely do! But I need to go to Chicago again soon...hopefully, anyway :)

@square kitchen, I can't wait to go when it's summer again! (And I can't wait for it to warm up in NY as well). I'm back in NY now, yup, and let me tell you, it's such a bummer to come back...cold and ugly, hehe.

Kaimono888 said...

A great trip and good food...that's what I need now. The photos are well taken ~ very beautiful.

Well, as for the last photo, I was guessing that it was a branch or rope or even some chinese herbs, but definitely not a CARROT!!

Lulu said...

Well a Caesar isn't just a Canadian Bloody Mary - our version has clamato (tomato and clam juice) juice in it instead of straight tomato. Leave it to us to decide that something would be better if we just added clams =)

tofugirl said...

Ah, thanks for the info Lulu! I didn't know that it was clamato (that name always makes me laugh)...well, anyway, it was delicious :)